Jan. 26, 2012
STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State head men’s tennis coach James Wadley will retire at the end of the 2012 season, he announced today.
“It has been a pleasure working with OSU athletes, administrators, staff and coaches for the last 39-plus years,” Wadley said. “I will take with me many fond memories from the nearly 1,000 matches that I have coached. Just to be in the same athletic department with the great coaches that I have had the privilege to know and admire will always be the highlight of my career.”
Wadley, in his 40th year at the helm of the Cowboy tennis program, is the longest tenured coach in Oklahoma State athletics history.
He has won more than 650 duals in his career to rank in the top five among all active coaches. After winning last week’s season opener, his record stands at 658-320.
In his 39 seasons in Stillwater, Wadley has made 17 NCAA tournament appearances and won 12 conference titles. Individually, he has been equally successful with 108 Cowboys earning all-conference honors and nine garnering All-America status.
He has been named the regional coach of the year and a national finalist for coach of the year on 11 occasions, most recently in 2009, and has been honored as the conference coach of the year 13 times.
Wadley arrived in Stillwater in 1972 and quickly molded a new structure to the Cowboy tennis program on and off the court. Among his early contributions was the creation of a study hall program, as well as a fall season.
After opening his career with a 16-14 mark in 1972, the Cowboys reeled off three consecutive 20-win seasons. In addition, the Cowboys earned three-straight Big Eight runner-up finishes, serving as proof a solid foundation had taken hold and the program was turning the corner.
What followed has been termed the "Decade of Dominance" as Wadley elevated the Cowboys into a Big Eight power.
The 1977 campaign proved to be the breakthrough season for the program as the Cowboys won 18 matches and captured the first of five consecutive conference crowns. In addition, OSU gained the first of its 17 NCAA Championship berths under Wadley.
From 1978-1987, Wadley's squad rose to another level, posting a 65-2 mark against league foes, including a 31-0 mark over the final five years of that stretch.
A 25-5 mark during the 1978 season set a new school standard with a winning percentage of .833. The Cowboys also won their first outright conference title under Wadley. OSU's 25 victories started a string of 10 consecutive 20-win campaigns.
Two years later, Wadley's squad set a new high-water mark with 27 wins and produced an astounding seven conference champions.
After a Big Eight runner-up finish in 1982, the Cowboys began a new string of conference titles the following year as OSU won 27 times en route to the first of four-straight league crowns.
Wadley's troops closed out their run of conference titles with championships in 1989, 1990 and 1991. The Cowboys capped each of those seasons with NCAA berths as well.
After joining the Big 12 Conference in 1996, Wadley led the Cowboys to another NCAA appearance the following season after posting an 18-7 mark.
The Cowboys earned a return trip to the postseason the following year after a 17-win campaign.
After guiding OSU to an NCAA berth in 2001, Wadley was chosen as the ITA Central Region Coach of the Year. Wadley has since won the award in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
Since 2003, Wadley's squads once again became a mainstay in the postseason, as they made NCAA appearances on seven consecutive occasions.
That string began with an 18-5 mark and a Big 12 runner-up finish in 2003. His squad also jumped from 73rd to 19th in the rankings, the biggest improvement in the country.
Two years later, OSU reached the 20-win plateau for the 14th time under Wadley's tutelage, amassing a 22-7 mark on its way to a runner-up finish in the conference. That year, the Cowboys also achieved one of their highest rankings, coming in as high as No. 13 nationally.
During the 2006-07 season, the Cowboys cracked the top 10 for the first time ever and climbed as high as No. 8 in the polls.
Wadley coached Pavel Kudrnac to three national titles in 1997-98. Kudrnac won the ITA National Clay Court Championship in 1997 and was named the Farnsworth/ITA Senior Player of the Year that season. He won the Indoor Singles Championship in 1998, as well as a doubles title at the event with Martin Dvoracek. In the final, the duo defeated Stanford’s Mike and Bob Bryan, who are widely considered the best doubles team in the world today. Wadley also coached Fran Krepelka and Matt Prentice to the World Team Tennis National Title in 2001.
The 2008-09 season saw one of Wadley's pupils produce the most decorated season by a Cowboy in school history. Oleksandr Nedovyesov was named the 2009 Campbell/ITA National Player of the year after finishing the season as the top-ranked player in the country and was recognized as OSU’s student-athlete of the year.
In the past 21 seasons, Wadley has guided two athletes to the honor of ITA National Player of the Year.
He also led the Cowboys to a record-streak of 20 consecutive Bedlam wins from 1995-2010 and took the Cowboys to the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA tournament five times before any other state school reached it once.
Wadley, who has been inducted into the Southeastern Oklahoma State Hall of Fame, Missouri Valley Tennis Hall of Fame and Oklahoma Tennis Hall of Fame, began his playing career in McAlester, Okla., where he was a two-time state champion. He went on to play collegiately at Southeastern Oklahoma State and was a two-time All-American at the NAIA level. He helped lead his team to four-straight conference titles and four consecutive appearances in the NAIA Tournament.
Wadley and his wife, Paula, have three children: Stacy, Kristi and Brent. Brent played baseball for OSU one year.
